Leclerc’s impressive first lap in Q3 put him over 0.2s clear of Lewis Hamilton, benefitting ♔from a 𓃲tow off the Mercedes driver.

Yuki Tsunoda and Carlos Sainz’s crash🐼es at the end of Q3 resulted in another red flag and meant no one could improve, ensuring Leclerc secured the ninth pole of his career.

“It was quite a shit lap I thought,” Leclerc said after q☂ualifying in Baku. “There were like two or three corners I d𒈔id mistakes but then of course, I had the big tow from Lewis in the last sector which helped me a little bit but overall I think we would have been there or thereabouts for pole without the slipstream.

“It’s a good day! I didn’t expect to be as competitive as we were today. I think I was improving again with𒐪 the red flag but it’s like this, another pole. I am happy anyway and hopefully, it’s all good for Carlos ♌- I haven't seen the crash so I have no ideas. I hope all OK for the team.”

Leclerc expects Mercedes and Red Bull to have the advan🍌tage on race day after Ferrari struggled wi♉th tyre graining in FP2.

“It definitely feels very good,” Leclerc added. On the o𒁃ther hand, it’s with the red flag again so I wish we had it on a normal track but in the end, a pole is a pole.

“The car felt quite OK but I believe Mercedes and Red Bull have something more than we have in the race especially. We’ve seen that in FP2 so it’s going to 🐈be very difficult because here it’s 𒁏not like Monaco, they can overtake. I will try to do the best job possible and hopefully, we can keep that first place but it’s going to be difficult.”